Machine for cleaning rice



w. AGBR. HULLING'AND CLEANING RICE.

110. 18,177; Patented sept. 15, 18157.

i 5 is a view of the bur, removed from the kUNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

IVILSON AGER, OF RI-IORSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

MACHINE FOR CLEANING RICE.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 18,177dated September 15, 1857; Reissuedoctober 1o, 1871, No. 4,579.

To all whom it may concern 1| Be it known that I, WILSON AGER, of Rhorsburg, in the county of Columbia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Hulling and Cleaning Rice; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawing, forming part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 is a top view of the machine by which the operation is eifected. Fig. 2 is a vertical section 'on line @zz-. Fig. 3 is an elevation of driving wheel end of machine. Fig. 4 is an elevation of the opposite end showing pinions for rotating the bur. Fig.

shell. Fig. 6 is a view showing interior of shell.

Similar characters of reference in the several figures denote the same part.

The obj ect of my invention is the cleaningV of the grain readyv for use after the removal of the husk therefrom. Before describing the means I employ to eifect that end I will refer briefly to the structure of the grain tov be operated upon.

The husk of the paddy is attached to the grain at one extremity only, and can readily be separated therefrom by pressure in direction of the length of grain. In fact this is the easiest way to e'ect the separation. After the removal of the husk the grain is found to be covered with a coating which can readily be removed by rubbing upon some rough substance. The removal of this coating and the separation of the germ constitute the cleaning of the grain. Regarding the husk, it will be found that its outer surface is roughened somewhat like a file; which property I avail myself of in the cleaning process as will be hereinafter set forth.

The nature of my invention consists in utilizing the husk'of rice as a cleaner of that `grain by subjecting the mixture of grain and husk resulting from the hulling process, to a packing and rubbing operation whereby the file like coating of the husk is rendered available for the desired purpose. The manner in which I perform this packing and rubbing operation consists in the passing of the rice and husk between a shell and bur rotating in opposite directions and so dressed that the husk shall act upon and remove the inner coating aforesaid; and the germ be also separated from the grain during the cleaning operation.

The details of construction and operation being as hereinafter set forth.

In the drawing Sis the shell supported by hollow shafts aa in bearings b b', and rotated in direction of arrow 1, by power applied to wheel A, secured on hollow shaft a.

B, is the bur having spindles c c at its extremities passing through hollow shafts a a, and rotated in direction of arrow 2 (Fig. 4f), by reason of cogwheel connection (l d between shafts a and f; and pinion connection e e e between shaft f and spindle o. The hollow shafts a a are upon heads g g, secured in the ends of the concave S, as shown in Fig. 2.

The shell s is incased in bands h h at its extremities as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. On band h lis the feed hopper z', communicating with the surface ofthe bur by openings i" in the shell (Figs. 2 and 6). Band h. has a discharge pipe k; outlets 1c" in the shell permitting the passage of the grain. The bands are secured to the supports D D by screws s, and the shell rotates freely within them.

The bur B is formed with a spiral flange l occupying the portion beneath the band h', for conveying the paddy to the hulling portion of the machine. This hulling portion is cylindrical and is represented in Fig. 5 by the part of the bur between y/ and e. Its surface has a dresscon'sisting of a system of indentations n, having their greatest depth at the base and reaching the surface at the point. The hulling portion of the shell shown between y and .2', Fig. 6, has the same dress arranged in inverse order. This dress is shown at X and X', where X represents a portion of the hulling shell of full size, and X a portion of shell and bur of full size, revolving in opposite directions as indicated by the arrows 3 and 4, and showing the reverse position of the indentations.

Upon the hulling cylinder is the double series of deflecting blocks m, arranged spithe cavities p being so arranged on the shell and bur as that the two series shall cross when the parts are in position. The cavities shown at Y are of full size.

The operation of hulling and cleaning is as follows: The paddy is fed by hopper z' as shell and bur are rotated in the opposite directions indicated by arrows l and 2. On passing through the openings z" of the shell the rice encounters the spiral flange Zand is conveyed by it to the space between the hulling portions of shell and bui'. The paddy on entering this space will encounterl some one of the deflecting blocksm which will turn the grain across the axis of the bur, and in so doing cause one end of the grain to enter a cavity n in the shell as the other is caught by one of the cavities 72, in the bur, as shown at X. The rotation of shell and bur as shown by arrows causes a pressure in diiection of the length of the grain'7 efecting the separation of the husk as-before stated. The grain and husk then pass onward to the spiral flange o7 which conveys them to the cleaner. There the rice and husk pack together as the shell and bur rotate in opposite directions shown by arrows at Y; the rough surface of the husk rubbing upon the grain and acting as a ile to remove the coating therefrom. The eccentricity of the operating surfaces of this portion of the inachine cause the greatest packing when the ridges r are opposite each other. And when the ridges pass to the position shown at Y,

the increase of space causes the mixture of grain and husk to be changed in relative position, whereby other portions of the grain are submitted to the action of the husk. Therefore since the shell and bur rotate with considerable rapidity there is a continual change of position of the substance passing between them, causing the grain to be thoroughly operated upon, and the coating entirely removed during the transit of the mixture from a to 2. The cleaned rice and husk are then forced out through passage s', after whichV the husk may be separated from the grain in any suitable manner.

During the rubbing of rice and husk the end of the grain will be brought in Contact Awith the edge oi sonie one of the cavities 7),

which will cause the germ to separate from the grain. l f

lVithout claiming the mere utilizing of -tlie vrice husk, what I claim as new and of my own invention anddesire to secure by Let-ters Patent, is- The method of cleaning rice by submitting the mixture of grain and husk resulting from the liulling' process, to an alternate packing and loosening actionproduced by surfaces dressed and operating substantially as hereinbefoi'e set forth.

I VILSON AGER. Vl/Titnesses 1 Giro. PATTEN,

A. EDWARDS.

[FIRST PRINTED 1912.] 

